Preview: Cardiff City

The Dons return to Sky Bet Championship action this afternoon when they take on Cardiff City in South Wales.

Karl Robinson’s side currently sit two places above the bottom three in the Championship table, one point above Rotherham United and Bristol City who occupy 21st and 22nd respectively.

While the results on the road this season have been few and far between, the men from MK1 have beaten the Bluebirds twice in 2015/16 – once in the Capital One Cup back in August and again in December when the two clubs met at stadiummk on Boxing Day, both times by 2-1.

How the Dons would love to secure a trio of successes over play-off chasing Cardiff and secure that elusive first away triumph since August.

THE OPPOSITION
Cardiff are riding a three-game unbeaten run and go into today's match on the back of a 3-2 victory over Huddersfield Town.

The Bluebirds have lost just once in the league this season at their Cardiff City Stadium, scoring 21 times and conceding just 13 goals en route to seven victories and six draws.

However, they have drawn four and lost one their last seven home league outings in all competitions, with the defeat coming against League 1 outfit Shrewsbury Town in the Emirates FA Cup.

LAST TIME OUT
The Dons entertained reigning Premier League champions Chelsea last weekend, in front of a sell-out crowd at stadiummk.

Despite a wholehearted performance, the Blues showed their class although the Dons had initially cancelled out Oscar’s opener through a deflected effort from Darren Potter.

However, Oscar went on to complete his hat-trick while Eden Hazard and Bertrand Traore also got on the scoresheet to secure their passage to round five with a 5-1 victory.

Lex Immers then restored Cardiff’s advantage just past the hour-mark before Whittingham doubled his tally with a stunning free-kick, which made the game safe despite Harry Bunn’s late consolation.

Peter Whittingham put the Bluebirds ahead with a neat finish but Nahki Wells fired Huddersfield level just three minutes later.

Cardiff secured back-to-back away triumphs for the first time in 2015/16 with a 3-2 victory at Huddersfield Town.

“They’ll be disappointed by the last two results (against us) so we have to make sure we go there and put a performance in.”

Karl Robinson: “We’re looking forward to the challenge. The players they’ve brought in are so talented.
VIEW FROM THE DUGOUTS

“The situation they are in, as a proud club who got promoted to the Championship, they’ll be fighting for their lives because they’ll want to stay up.”

Russell Slade: “It’s important we respect Karl Robinson’s team and the fact that they have already beaten us twice. They will pester you during the game and they have a habit of staying in games and getting something out of it.

Johnson’s assistants will be Chris Powell and Mark Russell while the fourth official is Rob Lewis.

The Weston-super-Mare-based official has marshalled 19 games in 2015/16, with this only his second Championship fixture of the season. He has brandished 61 yellow cards but has yet to send a player off.

Kevin Johnson will referee this afternoon’s game in South Wales, taking charge of the Dons for the very first time.
REFEREE

Defender Lee Peltier is back after a one-match suspension but Sean Morrison (knee), Craig Noone (chest), Idris Saadi (hamstring) are all sidelined.

Cardiff’s Deadline Day signing Tom Lawrence is expected to go straight into their starting line-up after joining from Leicester City while fellow acquisition Kenneth Zohore is set to be named on the bench.

Carl Baker (ankle), Matt Upson (hamstring) and Ben Reeves (thigh) will miss out through injury but Nicky Maynard (hamstring) is good to go after making his comeback in last weekend’s Emirates FA Cup tie with Chelsea.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, however, is eligible to feature after signing on loan until the end of the season, while George Baldock could be involved after returning to the Club from his spell at Oxford United.

Deadline Day signing Alex Revell will have to wait for his Dons debut due to an agreement between the two clubs preventing the ex-Cardiff City striker from making his bow against the team he’s joined from.
TEAM NEWS